


Stay The Night, I Promise That I Won't Bite

by justyrae



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, M/M, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-05 19:59:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19047352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justyrae/pseuds/justyrae
Summary: Louis doesn’t know where Liam’s obsession with vampires came from and he certainly doesn’t have any interest in supporting it when he’s got plenty of other things to occupy his mind. Like, for instance, his mysterious new neighbor.





	Stay The Night, I Promise That I Won't Bite

**Author's Note:**

> a long time ago (in 2014 i think) i wrote a 2 part zouis series about vampires. it was angsty and terrible and i deleted it because i was tired of having people comment negative things about the ending. in retrospect, i shouldn't have ended it the way i did but THAT'S IN THE PAST AND NOBODY CAN EVER READ IT AGAIN ANYWAY.
> 
> regardless, here we are again. this is inspired by the original fic (and has the same title) but reimagined and light-hearted and a whole lot better. enjoy.
> 
> big thanks to A for reading this over for me approximately a hundred times. also thank you to the camp nano discord chat; without the constant support and sprints i definitely wouldn't have finished this as quickly as i did <3

Louis is bored. He's not been this bored at work in a while and he doesn't know what to do with himself. He's spent the last twenty minutes with his feet propped up on his desk and leaning back in his chair, tossing a balled-up scrap of paper into the air and catching it again just to pass the time. If Liam were here then Louis would probably be chucking bits of paper at him, but Liam's not here.

Liam's been in their boss' office for the last half an hour, pitching whatever new idea for his column he'd come up with the night before. He'd texted Louis late last night about it but hadn't given any details, saying he'd explain everything in the morning. But then, of course, Louis was sent out on assignment before he even got to the office and didn't get back til past lunchtime.

As it turned out, the story that Louis had been sent to cover was woefully boring. He'd managed to write his entire article in his head in the time it took to get back to the office, and then he'd put it all down on paper within fifteen minutes of getting to his desk. Liam hadn't been at his desk (which is directly behind Louis' desk) when Louis got in, but it hadn't mattered anyway. The moment Liam actually _did_ get to his desk was the same moment their editor called out across the newsroom for Liam to come to his office, so they'd missed their window of opportunity anyway.

Which brings Louis to his current state, which is very bored indeed.

Things are starting to look bleak, which means that Louis is seriously considering closing his eyes and taking a nap, when the door to the editor's office opens and closes promptly with Liam coming out of the room in-between. He's got a dozen or so papers in his arms, most of which look scribbled on or folded up in various ways, and he dumps them all onto his desk as Louis turns his chair around and watches with a curious look on his face.

"Hiya," Liam says as he sits down in his chair and sighs in contentment.

"Hi," Louis replies, slightly suspicious. "Good meeting?"

"Yeah, yeah." Liam pats his messy desk. "Went well."

Louis nods, crossing one leg over the other as he folds his hands in his lap. He and Liam look at each other for a few seconds in silence before Louis gestures to the mass of papers that threaten to overtake Liam's desk completely.

"What's all that?"

"Oh, just…" Liam shuffles the papers around a bit, reaching to catch a few as they nearly fall off the surface of his desk. "Notes and things. Y'know, for my column."

"Is it a secret column this month?" Louis teases.

"No, I just…" Liam ducks his head bashfully and chuckles. "It's not ready yet."

"Well, _obviously_ ," Louis drawls, rolling his eyes. "You said last night that you'd--"

"I know," Liam interrupts. "But, like I said, it's not ready yet."

"Liam," Louis says, drawing his name out with an annoyed groan, tipping his head back and uncrossing his legs while his arms fall off of his lap towards the floor. "I've been waiting all day--"

"You've only been here for an hour."

"-- _all day_ ," Louis repeats pointedly as he lifts his head and glares at Liam, "for you to tell me this brilliant idea of yours, and now you're saying it's not ready?"

"Yes, that is what I'm saying."

Louis grabs a balled-up piece of paper from his desk and chucks it at Liam's face, hitting him square on the nose.

"You're a dick."

Liam rolls his eyes and turns his back on Louis, choosing to leave him to his own devices for the remainder of the work day. He is neither surprised nor apparently bothered by the fact that Louis chooses to spend the rest of their work day flicking tiny paper footballs at his back. (It's probably because Louis does this a lot and Liam's desensitized. Louis needs a new way to bother Liam.)

They part ways at the end of the day and despite his badgering and hundreds of paper footballs, Liam still doesn't tell Louis his idea. Louis groans dramatically when Liam tells him that he'll _probably_ be ready to tell him tomorrow.

"Why'd you even bother telling me about it last night?!" Louis shouts as Liam turns away and starts walking down the street in the opposite direction from Louis.

"Just keeping you on your toes!" he shouts over his shoulder, lifting one hand to wave goodbye as he continues with his stride. Louis gives him the finger even though Liam can't see it with his back turned.

Louis turns away once Liam's out of sight and heads for his flat, grumbling to himself the whole journey about how his best mate is a dick. The sun's gone down by the time he's walking up the steps to the front door of his building, and he glances up at the light overhead that's supposed to have come on by now.

He reaches up and taps at the bulb lightly with his finger, twisting it this way and that to see if it just needs to be tightened, but it still doesn't turn on. Louis grumbles to himself as he pulls his phone out of his pocket, using the light from the screen to find the lock to put his key into. As he makes his way up the stairs he starts writing a text to the building manager to complain about the light outside, but pauses when he makes it into his hallway and hears a door open.

When Louis glances up he sees his new neighbor step out into the hallway, pulling the door to his flat shut behind him. He doesn't notice Louis until he's already locked his own door, but when he looks up his eyes immediately find Louis'.

Louis doesn't say a word. He doesn't move a muscle as his new neighbor comes toward him, waiting until the last possible moment to step around Louis and head down the stairs. As soon as the downstairs door shuts Louis exhales like he's been waiting to for an hour and he presses a hand against the railing, his legs suddenly gone weak.

"Get a hold of yourself," he mutters, shaking his head before he walks down the hallway to his own door. He briefly glances at the door across the way before unlocking his own and going inside his flat, making a point _not_ to look again before he closes his door. He unlocks his phone and finishes the text to the building manager, pressing send quickly before he puts his phone next to his keys on the table near the door.

This new neighbor moved in about a month ago and Louis has since only ever seen him in passing. He's thought about trying to introduce himself a few times but it never seems to be the right moment. With his job at the paper he's always leaving early in the morning and sometimes he doesn't get home until much, much later at night. They've only ever had the sort of interactions that they just had, and Louis is always left feeling rather winded.

It wouldn't be so bad if Louis could just say something to the bloke. Even just a simple hello would be far less creepy and embarrassing than their usual staring contest. It's happened enough times now that it's past the point of being just nerves over a new face. Now it's just downright stupid.

The thing is, Louis' new neighbor is _stupidly_ attractive. The kind of attractive that makes Louis think about just how long it's actually been since the last time he hooked up with anyone. (Which, to be fair, is a much longer span of time than Louis would like it to be.) He's also the kind of attractive where it's apparently no trouble at all to find willing singles to bring home nearly every night.

Louis only knows this because he has the misfortune to run into them most mornings as he's leaving for work and they're leaving his neighbor's apartment. It wouldn't be such a problem if every single person who leaves that apartment looks like they got absolutely no sleep at all.

That just does things to Louis' brain that really doesn't contribute to an appropriate working environment.

The only thing he can do is try to put it out of his mind, which usually works until the next time he sees his neighbor or accidentally runs into his conquests in the hallway. It's a rather vicious cycle that Louis doesn't see ending any time soon. Unless, of course, he actually manages to find the nerve to say hello to his neighbor sometime in the near future.

Louis doesn't really foresee that happening any time soon. He'll inevitably have to suffer through a few more months of this or else just move to a different flat entirely so he never has to deal with it again. Liam would probably say he's being ridiculous, but Louis only listens to about half the things Liam says so it doesn't even matter.

Putting his neighbor out of his mind for the time being, Louis goes about making a bit of dinner and then sending a dozen or so texts to Liam. He doesn't appreciate being left in the dark about Liam's new project (even though it has absolutely nothing to do with him), and he intends to make sure Liam knows it.

*

The following day Louis is sent out on assignment again first thing in the morning, so all of his badgering has to be over text. Liam doesn't answer more than half of them, and when he does it's usually something along the lines of asking why Louis isn't paying attention to whatever story he's supposed to be reporting on.

Louis usually just sends back a row of middle finger emojis in response to Liam's question, but it doesn't stop Liam from asking it again twenty minutes later after Louis has texted him another six times.

He's just _bored_ again. He likes his job but the last few months absolutely nothing of real interest has happened. It's mostly store openings and anniversaries and things of that nature. Louis wouldn't necessarily call himself a fully-fledged journalist but a little bit of excitement would be nice, every once in a while.

Maybe he just needs to become a superhero and make his own news. Like Clark Kent at the Daily Planet. The only problem with that plan is Louis has absolutely no idea how he'd go about getting super powers. The fact that he's considering it as any sort of plan is absolutely Liam's fault. He's the one who insists on watching every single superhero film the day it comes out, and Louis can't even count how many different television shows he's been made to watch over the last few years.

Louis takes out his phone and texts Liam, complaining about his woes without fully explaining his thought process. Liam texts back about thirty question marks and Louis just grins down at his screen before pocketing his phone again.

It's another few hours before Louis is able to make his way back to the office. Liam's at his desk when Louis waltzes in through the door and he looks up as Louis approaches, glaring at him as Louis grins back.

"Good afternoon, Liam." Louis hangs his jacket over the back of his chair and plops down into it, spinning it around until they're facing each other. "Having a good day so far?"

"I'm going to block you one of these days, d'you know that?" Liam says as he tosses his pen onto his desk and grabs his phone.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sixty-seven!" Liam says as he brandishes his phone in Louis' face.

"You should read your texts more often, Liam." Louis gently pushes Liam's hand away from his face and turns around to face his own desk. "Someone might be trying to get a hold of you."

Liam huffs loudly and his chair creaks a little as he spins around to his own desk. Louis snickers as he hears Liam mutter _wanker_ under his breath. He'll make it up to him later that night when they go to the pub. He'll buy Liam a pint and all will be forgiven and forgotten.

Except for Liam's new idea that he still hasn't told Louis about yet. Louis isn't about to forget that any time soon.

He tells Liam exactly that when the two of them are getting ready to leave the office, both headed to the pub down the street as is their Friday night tradition. Liam rolls his eyes and exhales sharply, avoiding looking at Louis as he shoves his hands into his pockets.

"You're the one who told me about it," Louis says. "Why'd you do that if you don't _actually_ want to talk about it?"

"I know, I just--" Liam sighs. "You're just going to take the piss."

"I'd never." Liam gives him a blank look. "Not to your face?"

Liam rolls his eyes again.

"Li," Louis says gently. "If it means that much to you, you know I won't take the piss."

Liam smiles at that. He lifts his hand and knocks his knuckles into Louis' upper arm, wrapping his arm around Louis' shoulders when Louis steps towards him. They leave the building like that, quiet but calm in each other's company.

The peace is broken the moment they step into the pub, which is unsurprising. It's usually busy on Friday nights but they make their way to the bar and find two seats, same as always. Behind the bar is their good friend Niall who grins broadly when they show up.

"My two favorites!"

"Niall!" Liam beams at him and then points to Louis. "It's on him tonight."

Niall raises his eyebrows and glances over at Louis who rolls his eyes. "Yeah, alright."

"Payback for the texts," Liam replies. Louis shakes his head but doesn't argue further.

"Spill it then, Payno. What's this grand idea you've got?"

Liam scoots his stool a bit closer to Louis, glancing around a bit as if he's got a real secret. Louis resists the urge to laugh, remembering his promise not to make fun of Liam. Whatever the idea is, it better be good.

"Vampires."

Louis snorts before he can stop himself.

"See?!"

"That was involuntary!" Louis shouts. "You said vampires!"

"What about vampires?" Niall asks, butting into their conversation like he always does as he returns with two pints.

"Liam's writing about them, apparently."

"What, like a book?"

"No," Liam says with a huff. "For my column."

"You're writing fiction, now?" Niall raises his eyebrows. "Since when?"

" _No_ ," Liam replies pointedly, "it's a feature. On actual vampires. Here in town."

Louis made the mistake of taking a sip of his pint while Liam was talking, which means he chokes a little at the sound of Liam's entirely serious voice. Niall slides a napkin Louis' way but keeps his eyes on Liam as he tries to put his thoughts into words as delicately as he can.

"Liam… you know vampires aren't real, right?"

"That's what they want you to think!"

"Oh jesus," Niall mutters, shaking his head and taking a step back from the bar. "He's all yours, Lou."

"Cheers," Louis replies sarcastically. Liam turns to him with a frown and Louis sighs. "Even you have to admit, this sounds absolutely mad."

"I thought so too, but you haven't seen what I've seen. Talked to who I've talked to."

"Have you been interviewing the homeless again? I thought we agreed after last time that--"

"No, that's not--" Liam groans. "You're missing the point, Lou."

"Alright, alright." Louis takes his pint in hand again and gestures to Liam. "State your case, young Liam."

Liam rolls his eyes but doesn't rise to Louis' jab. Instead he launches into a full explanation of all the research he's been doing coupled with the interviews he's had with people who swear up and down that they've met a real vampire. Louis listens as best he can, remains patient and interested, but all he can think about is the fact that his best mate has clearly lost his fucking mind.

"So… wait. He's signed off on this?" Louis asks after Liam's told him that their boss already approved his story idea. "He's going to let you print this in the paper?"

"Yeah, he was excited about it!" Liam clears his throat. "Or… y'know, he just wanted me to get out of his office. One of the two."

"One of the two," Louis repeats, snickering softly. "Oh, Liam."

"Shut up," Liam mumbles. "You promised."

"I'm not taking the piss!" Louis says, raising his hands in defense. "I just… I'm not as quick to believe in this sort of stuff, you know that. You're the one with the real imagination here."

"Thank you?" Liam squints a little as he tries to figure out if Louis is actually making fun of him or not. "I think?"

"Take the compliment," Louis replies as he finishes off his pint and signals Niall to come back over.

"You're not still talking about vampires, are you?" Niall asks as he takes Louis' empty pint glass.

"Nope!" Louis answers before Liam can reply with anything to the contrary. "What's new with you, Nialler?"

Niall shrugs. "Nothing, really. Same old shit."

"Liar!"

Liam and Louis both turn their heads towards Niall's fellow bartender, Jade. She's grinning, remaining entirely unphased when Niall shouts for her to shut her mouth.

"What's she on about?" Liam asks.

"Nothing," Niall replies firmly.

"He's got a secret admirer!" Jade goes on. Niall turns red as he throws a rag at her, missing her by a mile and not doing a damn thing to keep her from grinning like a mad woman.

"Really?" Louis says, leaning further onto the bar as Niall keeps his eyes resolutely on his feet.

"I do not," he says, pointing at Jade. "It's nothing," he goes on, pointing at Liam. And then finally, "shut up," Niall says as he gives Louis his pint and then gives them both the finger over his shoulder as he walks very swiftly towards the back. Jade is also on the receiving end of a very aggressive middle finger, but it does nothing to her sunny disposition.

"He's touchy tonight," Louis remarks as Jade slides down to their end of the bar after Niall's disappeared.

"You two should've been in here last night, that's when it all started." Jade leans in closer after checking over her shoulder that Niall hasn't reappeared yet. "This bloke sat at the bar for _hours_ just trying to get Niall to talk to him. Wouldn't give me the time of day to serve him a thing. He literally only had eyes for Niall."

"Really?" Liam says, sounding rather hopeful about the whole thing. When Louis turns to look at him, he shrugs. "What? Maybe he's nice."

"Or maybe he's a creep who doesn't understand you shouldn't hit on people in the service industry," Louis replies. Jade pats his arm.

"That's very sweet of you to say. But this guy wasn't a creep, really. He seemed sweet."

"So why doesn't Niall want to talk about it?" Liam asks.

"Dunno. He seemed into it last night, towards the end." Jade shrugs a little. "Kept laughing at whatever the bloke was saying."

"You didn't hear what he said?" Louis asks.

"Uhh, excuse me, I had a job to do."

Louis rolls his eyes. "You eavesdrop on everyone, don't even deny it."

"True," Jade replies, tapping her fingers against the bar. "But last night I just… I dunno. I felt weird about it?"

"Did you grow a conscience?" Louis teases.

"Piss off." Jade snaps a rag in Louis' direction but he leans back to avoid getting hit in the face. "You should be grateful I'm telling you anything."

"D'you think he'll come back?" Liam asks, ever the hopeful romantic.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Jade replies. "Stick around long enough tonight and I'm sure you'll see him."

Louis glances over at Liam who does the same, his eyes seeming to share the same sentiment that Louis is feeling. It's not like either of them has anything particularly better to do for the rest of the evening, so waiting around for this mystery bloke seems like a perfectly good option. While they're having a silent conversation with their eyes, Jade leaves to go serve some other customers.

Niall doesn't come back for another fifteen minutes or so, and when he does neither Louis nor Liam bring up his secret admirer. They enjoy Niall's company far too much to make him run off again. Besides, Louis is pretty sure if he brought it up again he may run the risk of Niall kicking him out of the pub for the rest of the night.

So instead, they talk about other things. Niall asks Liam a few more questions about his new piece on vampires and Louis does his absolute best not to sit there and roll his eyes. An obsession with superheroes is one thing, everyone likes to imagine they've got special powers they can use to help others. But vampires? That's a whole different story.

What good can vampires possibly bring to the world? And why is Liam so hellbent on writing a story about them that doesn't seem to share any new information but rather spread around the same old things that everyone knows, and that might incite fear into those who are already fearful enough?

"D'you really think this is a good idea?" Louis asks as he reaches over and steals a few chips off of Liam's plate.

"What?" Liam says, his mouth half full. Louis had waited until he was taking a bite of his sandwich to pilfer his chips so that Liam's hands would be occupied. He gives Louis an unimpressed look but doesn't retaliate.

"Your story," Louis replies. Before Liam can launch into his defense, Louis starts with his own. "I'm just saying that if - and I mean _if_ \- you're right and vampires are real, wouldn't this just… y'know, lead to everyone panicking?"

"I'm not trying to scare anybody," Liam says, setting his sandwich down.

"No, I know that. I'm just saying--"

"Do you think I shouldn't write it?" Liam asks, his voice going serious. When Louis looks at him, he sees an innocence in Liam's eyes that he hasn't seen in a long time. He's always known his best mate to be an earnest sort of person; it's part of his charm. But the look in Liam's eyes now isn't that. It's like he's genuinely afraid of hurting someone.

"I don't know," Louis answers honestly. "I mean, if you think you should, then you probably should. Maybe I'm just being paranoid."

"That's a new look for you," Liam replies, giving Louis a cheeky smile as he resumes eating his sandwich.

"Hey, now. Don't be a twat," Louis says as he knocks his fist into Liam's shoulder in a good-natured kind of way.

"I dunno if people will even believe it," Liam says after a few minutes. "They might think I've just gone and lost the plot entirely. Maybe they'll think it's satire or something."

"Maybe."

"Or," Liam pauses for a moment, "if they choose to believe it, then maybe it'll help them be safe, y'know? Keep them from becoming victims, or something."

"Are you trying to be the next generation Van Helsing, or something?" Louis teases lightly. Liam snickers, ducking his head a little.

"Maybe. I'd get a cool outfit, wouldn't I?"

"Proper superhero," Louis agrees.

*

Another hour or so passes until Louis starts feeling like Niall's secret admirer is never going to show up. He can tell that Liam's getting a bit antsy too. He keeps checking his watch and it makes Louis feel a little out of sorts as well. They've both usually left the pub by now, gone their separate ways home and finished Friday nights in their respective flats. Louis isn't in a particular rush to get home and do absolutely nothing, but he's starting to get a bit tired of sitting on this barstool.

"D'you wanna head out?" he asks, turning his head towards Liam so his voice carries a bit further in the din around them.

Liam looks at his empty pint glass and then over his shoulder at the door. When he turns back to Louis he sighs a little and shrugs his shoulders.

"Ten more minutes?" he offers, to which Louis agrees. Ten minutes couldn't hurt, after all.

But the ten minutes pass and still no secret admirer. Both Louis and Liam try to catch Jade's eye but she's busy pulling pints for other customers, and they're still avoiding the topic with Niall. Louis and Liam share another look before wordlessly deciding that it's time to go.

Louis pulls out a bit of money to leave as a tip, having already paid the bill for the two of them half an hour ago. Liam's already got his jacket on while Louis tucks his own into the crook of his arm, and the pair head for the front door of the pub.

The door opens before they get there, and in walks a bloke they've never seen before. His face lights up as he steps through the door, and he gives them both a wide smile as he makes his way across the room towards the bar. Both Louis and Liam stop dead in their tracks to watch him, and then look at each other.

"D'you think…" Liam starts, but he doesn't have to finish his sentence for Louis to know exactly what he's thinking.

They both step away from the door, stumbling as they walk backwards until they reach the wall behind them. Neither takes their eyes off the mystery man as he walks to the bar, seemingly unaware that he's being watched. A spot at the bar opens up just as he reaches it, and he even shakes hands with the person who just got up.

Louis glances at Liam with a face that says _can you believe that?_ but Liam is too busy checking the room for Niall. Louis turns back to the scene unfolding before them and crosses his arms. There's something weird about this bloke, that's for sure. His smile was disarming in a way Louis has never experienced before, and there's a voice in his head telling him not to trust it though he has no idea why.

"Look," Liam whispers harshly, grabbing Louis' shoulder as he tries to discreetly point at Niall, who's heading towards the bar at that very moment.

Just then, Louis manages to catch Jade's eye from all the way across the room. She gestures to the bloke as secretly as she can and mouths _that's him_ as she stares back at Louis with wide eyes.

"That's the bloke," Louis whispers back to Liam.

"Look at Niall's face," Liam says.

Neither of them have ever seen Niall look at anyone that way before. Louis has heard the term "stars in your eyes" a lot over the years but he's never actually _seen_ someone with that sort of look. Despite the weird feeling that something's not right, Louis feels a warmth in his chest that just gets bigger and bigger the longer he watches Niall interact with this guy.

Hell, after a while, even Louis finds it hard to look away. It's clear there's something about him that's drawing Niall in and it appears to work just as well on Louis and Liam from across the room.

Louis snaps out of it when Liam gently shakes him by his shoulder, and he tears his eyes away from the two at the bar.

"What?" he says, blinking furiously as though he's got something in his eyes.

"You ready to go?" Liam asks. "We've been standing here for twenty minutes."

"We have not," Louis argues, grabbing Liam's wrist to check his watch. "Shit," he mutters when he realizes Liam's right.

"C'mon, Tommo." Liam puts his arm around Louis's shoulders and ushers him towards the door and out of the pub. "We can badger Niall about that bloke another day."

The two of them part ways shortly after leaving the pub, and Louis' head feels a bit funny all the way home. He chalks it up to his three pints with dinner, although the voice in the back of his head doesn't want to agree with him. Still, he doesn't feel like arguing with himself over what's probably nothing, especially since it's been a long enough day already.

Louis lets himself into his flat with no trouble and nothing eventful to speak of. His neighbor across the way must've already left for the night, but that's nothing new. Louis doesn't usually see him on Friday nights and he doesn't get up early enough on Saturday mornings to see whether or not another conquest has come and gone.

He heads straight for his bedroom, dropping his jacket on his couch as he passes by and kicking off his shoes before lying down on his back in the middle of his bed. As he stares up at the ceiling his thoughts drift back to Liam and vampires, and Louis laughs softly.

"Vampires," he says to himself. "There's no such thing."

*

The next week passes with little excitement to speak of. Louis continues getting sent out to cover stories that usually have him yawning more often than not, and Liam continues gathering what he refers to as research for his vampire story. Louis doesn't comment on it, but in his head he thinks Liam might be going a bit mad.

Then again, maybe Liam just needs to get this out of his system and then everything will go back to normal. Louis just has to hold out hope that this story won't catapult Liam into a supernatural tailspin, or else he's going to have an even bigger problem to deal with.

As Louis approaches his building on Thursday night, he notices someone waiting outside. It's not entirely unusual to see someone waiting around for a friend or perhaps a date, but as Louis gets closer he realizes that he's seen this person before.

"Hiya," he says politely as he walks around them, heading for the main door.

"Hi," the bloke replies, and when Louis catches a glimpse of the person's face he remembers where he knows them from. It's Niall's secret admirer.

"It's you," Louis says before he can stop himself. The guy laughs a little, brushing his hair back behind his ear as he smiles at Louis.

"It's me? Have we met?"

"I don't--" Louis is interrupted by the door opening, and out walks his neighbor.

"Zayn!" the bloke says, his smile growing larger at the sight of Louis' neighbor.

"Not out here causing trouble, are you, Haz?" Zayn replies. Louis stays absolutely silent and still as he watches the two of them, and then suddenly both of them are looking at him.

"I was just chatting with your neighbor," the bloke continues, gesturing to Louis. "I think he might know me, but I don't know him."

"Oh yeah?" Zayn replies, giving Louis a onceover that sends a chill down his spine. "I don't think we've met," he says as he extends his hand towards Louis. "You live across the hall, don't you?"

"Yeah," Louis manages to squeak. He clears his throat and shakes Zayn's hand. "Louis."

"Nice to meet you, Louis." Zayn smiles.

"I'm Harry." Zayn laughs as Harry reaches over to shake Louis' hand as well. Their handshake lasts several seconds longer than any normal handshake would, which prompts Zayn to take Harry's wrist and start guiding him away from the door.

"And we're leaving now. See you around, Louis."

Harry mutters something to Zayn that Louis can't quite catch other than it sounds somewhat like a protest, but they disappear around a corner before Louis can properly get a hold of himself.

He lets himself into the building, pulling out his phone and dialing Liam's number as he climbs the stairs up to his flat. Liam answers as Louis is putting the keys into his door.

"You'll never guess who I just saw," Louis says, interrupting Liam's greeting.

"Wha-- Who?"

"Niall's secret admirer," Louis says as he pushes his door open and steps inside his flat. "With my fucking neighbor."

*

Within an hour both Louis and Liam have decided that it's necessary for the two of them to go down to the pub and ask Niall about Harry now, rather than wait for the following night. Liam was a bit reluctant at first but after an exorbitant amount of badgering on Louis' part, an agreement was made.

"I'm sure it's nothing," is the first thing out of Liam's mouth when he approaches the pub and finds Louis already waiting there. "Zayn and Harry are probably just friends, like you and me."

Louis snorts. "You don't know Zayn like I do," he replies as he pushes open the door to the pub and Liam follows.

"But _you_ don't even know him," Liam says. The only response he receives from Louis is a haphazard wave over his shoulder, but he drops the subject anyway.

Thursday nights are apparently far quieter at the pub than Friday nights, and the pair have no trouble making their way to the bar and snagging a couple of stools. Niall's got his back to the bar as they approach, but he turns around upon hearing the scrape of the stools against the floor.

"What can I get for-- hang on. Is it Friday already?"

"No, it's--"

"What do you really know about your secret admirer?" Louis interrupts, talking over Liam entirely.

"Not this again," Niall mutters, setting down the glass he'd been polishing.

"We saw him in here last week," Louis goes on, "and I just saw him with my neighbor, of all people."

"Okay."

"Okay?" Louis repeats.

"Yeah, okay." Niall shrugs. "What does this have to do with me?"

Louis and Liam look at each other. "But…" Liam leans in a bit. "Last week."

"What about last week?" Niall asks, now getting a little exasperated.

"You were into him," Louis supplies, pausing for a moment as he gives Niall a weird look. "Weren't you?"

"No?" Niall huffs. "Look, lads, I'll be honest with you: the guy came onto me a few times. I went along with it because hello, bartender. Tips. Can't exactly tell the guy to fuck off just for a few pick up lines."

Louis' shoulders drop. "But--"

"But nothing," Niall continues. "I've got no interest in the guy and Jade's just been winding you lot up, is all. To be honest, I thought the both of you were smart enough to know that."

Louis huffs loudly and Liam hangs his head. Niall's expression slowly changes from serious back into his usual playful look, and he smiles at the pair of them.

"Now, how about a pint?"

"Yeah," Louis and Liam reply together. They're both feeling a bit foolish about jumping to conclusions over nothing. Truth be told, Louis doesn't even know why he felt so dead set on getting the truth from Niall. It seems meaningless and silly now; he honestly can't even remember why he was distrustful of Harry in the first place.

Louis and Liam part ways an hour or so later, neither one mentioning the disaster that their night turned out to be. The walk back to his flat seemed longer than ever; Louis just wanted to get home and go straight to bed so he'd hopefully forget all about making a fool out of himself.

When he gets to his front door he pauses. He turns around and looks at Zayn's door for a long minute, just staring at the sign marked "3B" nailed to the wood. Louis is about to turn around and scold himself for being weird _again_ when a shadow under the door catches his eye. It crosses again, covering the light coming through the crack before it passes again and Louis stays absolutely still.

There's a part of him that wants to go and knock on the door. He could apologize for being awkward and weird earlier, maybe introduce himself properly this time. Get to know his neighbor a bit more and maybe even become friends, forget all the stuff that he's been cooking up in his mind when he's left with too much time on his hands.

Louis decides against it in the end. He decides he's been standing in the hallway too long, looking at Zayn's door like a complete fucking weirdo. For all he knows Zayn's been watching him through the peephole and is about ready to call the police on him or something. Louis shakes his head, finally breaking free of whatever state he's managed to put himself in and lets himself into his own flat.

Despite going straight to bed, Louis lies awake for a long time that night. He's not really thinking about anything in particular and yet he can't seem to turn his brain off. When he closes his eyes he remembers the shape of Zayn's mouth when his name rolled off Zayn's tongue. He replays it over and over in his head before he presses his face into his pillow and groans loudly.

Somehow in the last 12 hours, Louis had completely lost his fucking mind.

*

Friday morning starts much like it did the previous week. Except this time instead of Louis feeling the need to get to work to talk about Liam's new story, he wants to talk to Liam for a completely different reason. He hadn't slept very well the night before because he kept thinking about how poorly they'd handled the situation with Niall.

Louis wants to make it right. He just doesn't know how yet.

Luckily he ends up getting to the office just after lunch and he's relieved to find Liam already at his desk. Instead of sitting down at his own, Louis opts instead to perch on the corner of Liam's desk, effectively covering up whatever notes Liam had been looking at a moment ago.

"Can I help you?" Liam asks, looking up at Louis with the sort of smile that looked like he was trying not to show his amusement. Louis grins down at him and pats his shoulder.

"I have a proposition for you."

Liam leans back in his chair, rolling ever so slightly back and away from the desk.

"Not that sort of proposition," Louis says before Liam can make any sort of comment. "Honestly, get your head out of the gutter."

"I didn't say anything!" Liam tosses his pen onto his desk and sighs. "Alright, what is it?"

"We need to apologize to Niall. _You_ need to figure out a way to do it."

Louis slides off of Liam's desk and takes the few steps over to his own, plopping down in his chair while Liam stares at him with an entirely confused expression.

"Why do I have to do it?"

"Because you're good at that sort of thing." Louis looks down at his hands and shrugs a little. "And I've been trying to all day and I can't think of anything," he murmurs softly.

"Alright," Liam says after a beat. "You're probably right, anyway. We were a bit mad last night."

"Yeah," Louis says with a sigh. "Probably could've handled it better."

"Niall's like our little brother." Liam chuckles. "We just wanna look out for him."

"Yeah, and--" Louis exhales sharply. "I don't know, there's just… _something_ about Harry that doesn't sit well, y'know? I can't explain it."

"No, I get it." Liam leans forward, rolling his chair closer to Louis' desk. "Y'know what I think?"

Louis waits a moment and then closes his eyes. "I swear to god, if you say what I think you're going to say…"

"You don't know that he's not--

"Oh my god, he's not a vampire!" Louis says loudly. Liam shushes him immediately, gesturing for him to shut up as he glances around the office. Predictably, nobody pays any attention to Louis' outburst.

"Keep your voice down," Liam hisses.

"What?" Louis goes on in an entirely normal tone of voice. "D'you think vampires have infiltrated our office?" He gestures to the window across the room. "It's bloody daytime, Liam!"

"That's not--" Liam groans. "I'm just saying it's _possible_."

"Literally nothing makes that possible," Louis replies. "I've only met him once but I'm telling you, he's not a vampire."

"How do you know?"

"The same way I know that you're not a vampire," Louis replies sarcastically. "They don't fucking exist."

Liam gives him a forlorn sort of look but Louis isn't going to stand for it right now. He's not doing this with Liam. He was alright with this whole vampire obsession when it was still in the theoretical phase; this is going too far. Liam can't just go around accusing people of being vampires! He'll get arrested for harassment or worse, locked up in a mental institution.

"You don't know that," Liam says quietly.

Louis takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "Liam, listen to me."

"No, you listen to me," Liam says as he goes back over to his desk and grabs his notebook. "If you'd just read my notes, then you'd--"

" _Liam_ ," Louis groans loudly. "You're losing it, mate."

Liam huffs. "Fine." He tosses his notebook back onto his desk and waves his hands around in defeat. "Maybe Harry's not a vampire."

"Thank you."

"But I'm going to prove they exist. You'll see."

"If you ever do manage to prove that, I'll give you all the money in my fucking bank account."

Liam grins. "Deal."

"Whatever," Louis says, sighing heavily. "Now, how do we apologize to Niall?"

It takes the rest of the afternoon for Louis and Liam to come to an agreement over how to apologize to Niall. Liam argues that they all they really need to do is apologize and Niall will probably forget it ever happened, but Louis keeps insisting that a simple apology isn't enough.

The problem is, Louis doesn't know what _would_ _be_ enough.

"I just think we need to do something for him."

"Why? It's not like we crashed his car or cause him to break his arm, or something."

"Where's your sense of responsibility, Liam? Shouldn't you want to help your fellow man?"

Liam snickers. "I think you're losing it, mate."

"Takes one to know one," Louis retorts, giving Liam the finger.

Liam pushes Louis' hand away, trying to hide a smile even though Louis can see it plain as day. They may argue a lot but that's how they've always been. Louis knows that if Liam ever got properly mad at him he'd be able to tell in a heartbeat because Liam wouldn't be able to give him a smile.

"How about this," Liam says, "we go to the pub. We apologize to Niall, and then we ask if there's anything we can do to make it up to him."

"So… we give him the hard job of figuring out what we can do for him?"

"If he wants it, yeah."

"Perfect!" Louis claps his hands together. "See, I knew you'd come up with something."

"I--" Liam sighs a little to himself as Louis starts gathering up his things. He doesn't say anything further, having learned ages ago to pick his battles carefully when it comes to Louis.

They're both in a good mood when they get to the pub; their usual spots at the bar are open and they spot Jade immediately. She comes over to say hello just as another figure pops up behind the bar, but it's someone neither of them recognize.

"Who's that?" Louis asks, far too curious for his own good.

"Oh, that's Niall."

"No, it's not," both Louis and Liam say at the same time. Jade rolls her eyes and laughs.

"Yes, it is. Just not the other Niall. This is the bigger Niall."

"I also answer to Bressie, thank you very much." He tips an imaginary hat at Louis and Liam, and then goes off to do other things that don't include hanging around and shooting the shit with the three of them.

"Where's Niall?" Louis asks. " _Our_ Niall."

"He's off tonight," Jade replies.

"But he always works Fridays," Liam says in a mildly disappointed tone.

"He switched with Niall."

"Niall switched with Niall or Niall switched with Niall?" Liam asks, pointing his fingers in various directions to try and demonstrate his point but Louis puts his head in his hands and groans loudly.

"Please, call the other one Bressie. This is too confusing!"

Jade cackles. "Niall switched with Bressie because he's got a hot date tonight." Jade wiggles her eyebrows and both Liam and Louis stare at her.

"What?"

"With who?" Louis demands.

"Guess."

Louis looks at Liam and they have a conversation entirely with their eyebrows before he turns back to Jade to venture his guess.

"Not his secret…"

He doesn't have to finish his sentence before Jade's grinning and nodding at him.

" _What?_ "

"I know! I'm as surprised as you are! I wish I'd been there to see it happen." Jade props her chin up in the palm of her hand and looks up at the ceiling in a dreamy sort of way. "I can't even imagine what he must've said to Niall to get him to say yes."

"B-But…" Liam splutters hopelessly. "But we… he said…"

"He told us last night that he had absolutely no interest in Ha--" Louis pauses, clearing his throat, "--in that guy. Why the hell would he go on a date with him?!"

"Beats me," Jade says, shrugging her shoulders as she drops her hand back down onto the bar. "Maybe he changed his mind."

"Maybe," Liam mutters.

"Anyway, the usual for you two?" Jade asks, waiting for a nod of agreement before she goes off to pull their pints.

"What is it, Liam?" Louis asks after Jade's dropped off their pints and is far enough away that it's unlikely she can eavesdrop on their conversation. He knows there's something percolating in Liam's mind and he has a feeling he's not going to like it.

"Well," Liam drops his voice, leaning in close to Louis' ear so only he can hear him, "I wasn't going to say anything before, but now--"

Louis waits for Liam to elaborate, but it doesn't happen. He catches a glimpse of Liam's face out of the corner of his eye, and Liam's not looking at him anymore. He's looking at the door with his mouth hanging open.

"What are you--"

Louis turns to see what Liam's looking at and his mouth falls slightly open too. Heading for the bar is none other than Zayn, and he's looking right at them. Louis immediately turns back around and picks up his pint, bringing the glass up to his lips and drinking as much of it as he can before the empty stool next to him gets taken.

"Hey," Zayn says, making himself comfortable. "Louis, right?"

He chokes a little but manages to recover well enough, wiping his mouth before he tries to speak. "Y-Yeah."

"You remember my friend from the other day? You haven't seen him around here, have you?"

"I--" Before Louis can say anything, Liam buts in.

"He's gone and kidnapped our friend, that's what he's done."

Zayn raises his eyebrows and Louis tries to slap his hand over Liam's mouth without looking. He manages to smack him in the nose, which more or less completes his objective.

"He hasn't, they've just gone on a date, is all."

"Really?" Zayn hums a little as he scratches at the stubble on his chin. "Interesting."

"Yeah, _interesting_ ," Liam says as he grabs Louis' wrists to avoid getting slapped by him again. "What's really interesting is that our friend said he had no interest in your friend just yesterday."

" _Liam_ ," Louis hisses.

"So why would he agree to go out with someone he doesn't like?" Liam barrels on.

Zayn shrugs. "Maybe he changed his mind. It has been known to happen, y'know."

"You're probably right," Louis says, desperately trying to salvage the situation and keep Liam from looking like a person who's gone absolutely insane. "Niall probably just changed his mind, _Liam_."

"You don't know that! Neither of you know that! Maybe this Harry bloke drugged and kidnapped him!"

"Jesus Christ, Liam." Louis groans loudly and puts his head down on the bar. This is turning into a complete disaster.

"Tell us more about Harry," Liam demands. "Or, better yet, tell us where he lives and we'll go see for ourselves!"

"Liam, no." Louis immediately picks his head up off the bar and covers Liam's face with his hands. "Ignore him, he's drunk," he tells Zayn, trying to give him an apologetic sort of look over his shoulder.

"I am not! I'm worried about Niall!"

Louis and Liam continue to argue while Zayn just sits idly by and watches. Despite Liam getting more and more angry and accusatory, the smile on Zayn's face never changes. His expression remains one of amusement and curiosity, which may have a large part in making Liam slightly more hysterical as time goes on.

"I'm a bit worried about Harry, myself," he says coolly during a rare moment of peace. Louis and Liam's hands are locked in a vain struggle to get the other to shut up, but they both freeze at the sound of Zayn's voice and look at him with matching confusion.

"What?" Liam asks.

"He's a bit… _naive_ , you see." Zayn tilts his head and clicks his tongue. "Been a bit sheltered, really. Doesn't quite know how to handle himself, if you know what I mean."

Louis and Liam share a look. Neither of them know what Zayn means exactly, but each one has their own ideas.

"So, what you're saying is, we _should_ try to find them?" Louis asks carefully.

Zayn shrugs a little. "I may know where Harry lives."

"Then let's go!" Liam says, already sliding off his stool.

"But," Zayn says, capturing their attention again. "When we get there, I go in first."

"Okay," Louis says at the same time Liam asks, "why?"

"Because," Zayn replies, offering up absolutely no further explanation.

He gracefully slides off his stool and starts heading for the door, leaving both Liam and Louis in a bit of a scramble to pay for their pints and follow him out.

"I don't trust him," Liam whispers as he slides a bank note under his completely full glass.

"It'll be fine," Louis whispers back. He's mostly trying to convince himself, but if he happens to convince Liam as well then it's so much the better.

*

As it turns out, Harry lives fairly close to Louis and Zayn's building. Zayn leads the way with Louis and Liam trailing behind, glancing over his shoulder every so often presumably to ensure that they're still following. Liam mutters under his breath the whole way there and Louis just hopes and prays that Zayn can't actually hear what Liam's saying because every word is absolutely ridiculous.

"This is what they do, y'know. They charm their way into your head and then make it seem like it's all your idea," Liam tells Louis. "That's probably what happened with Niall, I'd bet. Harry probably used some sort of trick or magic or something to--"

"Liam, _please_ not this again," Louis begs. "I thought we agreed that Harry _wasn't_ a fucking vampire."

Zayn glances over his shoulder at that moment and catches Louis' eye. For a split second, Louis is terrified that Zayn heard the word vampire but then he just smiles and turns away.

"We can't be too sure," Liam goes on, having missed the moment between Zayn and Louis entirely. "We don't know him, or _him_ ," he says, gesturing to Zayn's back. "They could both be vampires for all we know."

"You don't have any proof," Louis hisses, "and if you go around accusing people of being vampires, you're going to get locked up in a loony bin."

"Don't call them loony bins, that's not nice."

"Fucking hell," Louis mutters with a groan. He can't wait to get to Harry's flat and set the record straight, whatever way that may be. Maybe Niall decided that Harry wasn't so bad after all and wanted to give it a go. Maybe he's just in it for a night, an easy lay or something. Maybe there's absolutely nothing sinister about any of this and Liam's just being overprotective and all that research he's been doing has just gone to his head.

Zayn has a key to the downstairs door at Harry's flat so they don't need to wait for anyone to let them in, but either he doesn't have a key to Harry's actual door or he's choosing not to use it. He knocks and waits a beat, during which time Liam starts to get impatient.

"Well?"

"Harry," Zayn calls through the door. "It's me, open up."

Another few seconds go by before there's a shuffling sound and the door opens to reveal a slightly disheveled-looking Harry. He lights up when he sees Zayn and then looks confused when he sees Louis and Liam behind him.

"Zayn, what's going on?" he asks, but Liam's had enough.

"Where's Niall?" he demands, pushing past the others and barging into Harry's flat. Louis tries to stop him but inevitably just gives up and starts apologizing on his behalf.

"I'm so sorry, honestly, I have no idea what's--"

"Liam?" Niall's voice carries through Harry's front door. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Oh, fuck," Louis mumbles, covering his face with his hands. Zayn chuckles to himself in amusement as he steps through the door, leaving Louis in the hall by himself while Harry still stands in the doorway with a confused expression.

"Are you coming in too?" he asks.

Louis huffs a loud breath and shakes his head. "Yeah, alright. Might as well."

Harry closes the door behind Louis who stands awkwardly in the entryway even though he can already hear Liam and Niall arguing in the next room. With a sweeping gesture Harry beckons Louis to follow him and he begrudgingly does.

Niall, despite the argument he's having with Liam, looks on par with Harry in that it's clear to Louis at least that there was something going on prior to their party barging in. Zayn's relaxing in an armchair across the room, watching Niall and Liam go at it with the same amused expression he had in the pub. Part of Louis wishes he could be that nonchalant, the other part is annoyed that Zayn isn't helping matters whatsoever.

Harry goes and stands nearby Zayn, looking around the room with nervous eyes. Louis tunes out Liam and Niall as best he can in order to better concentrate on what Harry and Zayn are saying to each other. Something inside tells him that this is the conversation he wants to listen to.

"What happened, Haz?" Zayn asks carefully as Harry sits down on one of the arms of the chair Zayn's sitting in. "It should've been done with by now."

"It hadn't even started," Harry replies in a sad tone. "He's very enthusiastic with kissing."

"Haz," Zayn groans. "How many times do I have to tell you? You don't _have_ to start with kissing."

"I know, I know, but--" Harry glances at Niall and moans softly. "--I _like_ the kissing."

"I know you do," Zayn replies as he reaches up and tangles his fingers in Harry's hair, scratching his scalp a little.

"I'm sorry," Louis says loudly, interrupting everyone, "but what _exactly_ is going on here?"

"That's what _I'd_ like to know, too!" Niall says as he stares pointedly at Liam.

"We came here to make sure you were alright!" Liam snaps.

"I was _fine_ before you got here!"

"He was," Harry adds. Zayn snickers softly and Harry frowns at him. "He _was_ ," he repeats.

"That's what you said the last time," Zayn whispers.

"Alright, that's enough from you two," Louis says as he shakes his finger at Harry and Zayn. The moment they both turn to look at him, he loses his nerve. "You… umm." Louis clears his throat and tries to remember what he was going to say. "Just… stop it."

"Stop what?" Niall asks. "If anyone should be stopping anything, it's me. What's the matter with you two, anyway?"

"Niall, we--"

"We were concerned for your safety!" Liam interrupts.

"Who are you, the date police?!" Niall shouts.

"You didn't have to come," Harry tells Zayn quietly. "I'm ready, you know."

"I know," Zayn replies.

Louis' head feels like it's spinning. He can't be sure why, but he can't seem to shake the feeling that Harry and Zayn have a sort of relationship he's never encountered before. The things they're saying give this whole situation a new level of weird and Louis doesn't even want to _think_ about it and yet, he can't stop himself.

"Are you a prostitute?" he blurts out. All other conversation immediately comes to an end and everyone stares at Louis.

"No," Harry replies brightly, "but thank you!"

"Jesus," Niall mutters.

"Harry," Zayn mumbles, chuckling under his breath.

"What?" Harry looks at Zayn. "Isn't that a compliment? That I'm pretty enough to be--"

"Alright!" Niall shouts. "That's it! I've had enough of this utter nonsense, I'm going home."

He storms out of the room, much to Harry's dismay, and Liam runs after him while glaring daggers at both Harry and Zayn. Louis stays in the room for an awkward moment before sputtering out a timid sorry and hurried goodbye before he runs after his friends.

Niall and Liam have made it back outside by the time Louis catches up with them, and they're already fighting again. Louis can't even bother to try and get in the middle of it this time, he's too busy trying to get his heart to stop pounding. He's usually so much more confident and even snarky at times, but around Zayn he's an absolute fucking mess. It's like being a teenager all bloody over again and Louis absolutely hates it.

"Liam," Louis gasps as he's doubled over with his hand pressed to his chest. "Just fucking apologize already."

"Lou, are you okay?" Liam asks, suddenly worried when he realizes that Louis isn't well. He and Niall both take a step closer to Louis but he waves them away.

"I'm fine, just do it!"

Liam sighs heavily as he turns to Niall. "I'm sorry."

"Like you mean it," Louis says as he finally straightens up. His hand is still pressed to his chest and his heart's still beating too fast, but at least he doesn't feel like he's about to pass out.

"I'm _sorry_ we barged in," Liam says dutifully, starting out with gritted teeth but he loosens up as he continues talking. "We just wanted to make sure you were okay. We didn't know what to think."

"I'm sorry too," Louis adds, "in case that wasn't clear."

Niall looks at the both of them with his arms crossed over his chest and lets out a long breath. For a moment both Louis and Liam think he's going to start shouting again, but then he cracks a smile.

"It's alright," he says. "I know you two were just doing what you thought was best. It wasn't, for the record, but I get it."

"We just…" Liam shakes his head. "Why? You said yesterday that you didn't have--"

"Yeah, I know what I said." Niall shrugs a little and ducks his head. "I don't know what to tell you, honestly. He came in after you two left and I dunno, he asked me out again and before I knew it, I was saying yes." He shrugs again. "It felt right at the time, now I feel a bit stupid about it."

" _You_ feel stupid?" Louis laughs. "How d'you think we feel?"

"Rightfully idiotic," Niall replies, his smile growing wider as he looks at Louis. "C'mon, let's get out of here. It's weird that we've just been standing out here for so long."

"I still don't trust him," Liam says as the three start walking away from Harry's building. "Either of them, if I'm honest."

"Harry's not so bad," Niall says. "A bit weird, but then again, who isn't?"

"Preaching to the choir," Louis mutters, gesturing towards Liam. He gets shoved for good measure and Niall's cackle echoes into the quiet of the night around them.

*

Louis goes up to his flat alone despite Liam asking no less than a dozen times if he wants company. He's still a bit worried after Louis' episode outside of Harry's building, but Louis assures him that he's going right to bed and he'll be fine.

It's a lie, he has no intention of going to bed right when he gets home, but Louis honestly just wants to be alone.

He lies down on his couch for a while, counting that as almost the same as going to bed. _At least I'm resting_ , he tells himself. Louis thinks Liam would be satisfied with that, if he knew.

An hour passes before Louis manages to pull himself back together and gets back onto his feet. He feels a little restless in himself, like he can't decide what to do. It's late enough in the evening that he could just take himself to bed and go to sleep, but it strangely doesn't seem like a viable option. He paces around his living room for a minute or two before he does the same in the kitchen, eventually deciding he'll gather up his rubbish and put it out on the street.

At least he can be somewhat productive while he continues feeling a bit lost.

Louis takes an extra minute when he's outside, staring up at the night sky. He can't see any stars because of the city lights all around, but it's still oddly calming. He concentrates on his breathing for a few seconds, even closing his eyes for a few moments.

A familiar scent washes over him while his eyes are closed, and when Louis opens them he sees Zayn walking towards him. Louis freezes, setting off a mild feeling of panic until Zayn looks up and notices him standing there staring.

"Hey," Zayn says with an easy smile as he exhales some smoke.

It takes about three seconds for Louis to finally understand why Zayn's been so relaxed every single time he's seen him: he's _high_.

"Hey," Louis replies, trying his best to smile back.

"Didn't expect to see you again," Zayn remarks casually, his smile slipping into a smirk as he takes another pull from his joint.

Louis ducks his head as his cheeks heat up. "Sorry about earlier, Liam's just…"

"Overprotective?"

"You could say that," Louis replies. "I was going to say an idiot, honestly."

Zayn laughs loudly and it brings a smile to Louis' face. Their eyes meet as Zayn's laughter fades and it makes Louis' heart beat wildly. He stays quiet, mildly fearful of what might come out of his mouth if he doesn't take the time to think of something first. His eyes drift down to the joint between Zayn's fingers, but he quickly looks away when Zayn's fingers twitch a little.

"Do you smoke?" he asks, extending his hand out to Louis as an offer.

"Yeah, but…" Louis shakes his head.

"Go on," Zayn says, offering it again. "I don't mind."

"You sure?" Louis asks, searching for permission in Zayn's face before he lifts his hand and takes the joint.

Zayn steps a bit closer to Louis while he's occupied, watching him with a small smile and a certain mischief in his eyes. Louis feels warm all over and he takes a longer hit than he normally would for a first time, hoping it'll calm him down faster this way.

"I've got more upstairs," Zayn says, his tone returning to the same casual nature he had a few minutes ago. "If you're interested."

Louis gets a chill down his spine, almost like someone's running a cold finger down the line of his back. He tries not to shiver too visibly as he hands the joint back to Zayn. He waits a beat and then shrugs as casually as he can manage.

"Yeah, sounds good."

"Yeah?" Zayn grins. "Alright, then. C'mon."

Louis wordlessly follows Zayn into their building and up the stairs. It feels strange to go to the right towards Zayn's door instead of to the left to his own, and he finds himself fidgeting as Zayn reaches into his pocket for his keys.

"Hold this, will you?" he asks, handing the joint back to Louis. He glances briefly at Louis' face and chuckles. "Have another hit, if you like."

Louis swallows hard, feeling embarrassed that Zayn can clearly tell how nervous he is. He brings the joint up to his lips and inhales again as Zayn unlocks his door, pushing it forward and into his flat before he steps aside to let Louis go in first.

He takes a few steps and then pauses, turning halfway around to pass the joint back. Zayn chuckles again and pushes his hand away.

"You have the rest of that one, yeah?" He pats Louis' shoulder and gestures for him to go further into the flat towards the living room. "I'll be right back."

Louis nods, staying in place until Zayn's disappeared down the hallway and into another room. It takes a few more seconds for Louis to go into the living room and sit down on the couch, and all the while he marvels at how similar Zayn's flat is to his own. He feels a bit stupid for being surprised about it; they live in the same bloody building, of course their flats look the same. It's a mirror image of his own apart from Zayn having different furniture.

Louis takes another long hit from the joint, willing himself to calm the fuck down and stop being so weird about everything. There's a thrum in his veins, an itch under his skin that's setting him on edge. He's been curious about Zayn's flat for weeks now, even more curious about Zayn himself, and here he is finally getting his chance to learn more about them both.

All he has to do is not completely fuck it up.

Zayn reappears soon enough with a small, ornate box in his hands. He takes the open seat next to Louis on his couch, setting the box down on the table in front of them, but he doesn't open it. Instead he leans back against the couch and puts his arm across the cushions behind Louis, turning his body so he's half-facing Louis with a relaxed smile.

"You nervous?"

"No," Louis answers hurriedly. Zayn snorts as Louis takes one last hit before nearly burning his fingertips. Zayn gestures to an ashtray sitting on the end table on Louis' other side, and Louis settles into the corner of couch once he's stubbed out the remnants of the joint.

"You seem nervous," Zayn says. Louis is just out of reach of his hand but it wouldn't take very much effort at all to close the gap between them.

" _You're_ nervous," Louis replies without thinking. He screws up his face when he realizes what he's said and covers his eyes as Zayn laughs softly. "Sorry, I'm just… embarrassed."

"Of what?"

"Tonight," Louis says, gesturing half-heartedly. "Y'know, that whole thing with Liam and Niall. It was stupid."

"It's alright," Zayn replies. "I get it."

"You do?"

"Yeah. Protecting your own, y'know?"

"Yeah," Louis says, watching as Zayn props his head up in his hand. Now that Zayn's moved his hand away from Louis, he finds himself wishing he'd sat closer to begin with. Louis shifts his position on the couch, mimicking how Zayn's sitting as he makes himself comfortable again.

"I've been doing that for Harry for…" Zayn whistles a little, "...a long time."

"Really?" Louis hums. "How do you two know each other?"

"It's a long story," Zayn replies with a faint smile. "We've been mates for ages."

"Same with me and Liam. We went to uni together and then somehow both got hired at the paper together, too."

"So you're a journalist?" Zayn raises his eyebrows. "Impressive."

"Not really," Louis says bashfully. "I mostly write puff pieces, to be honest."

"D'you like working there?"

"Yeah, I mean, the job's alright. The pay's not bad and our boss is pretty good, all things considered."

"Could be worse."

"Exactly."

"So you're a journalist, and you go to the pub, what else do you do?"

Louis shrugs a little. "Nothing, really?"

"You smoke," Zayn says, nodding towards the little box he'd brought before.

"Yeah, but that's not really a hobby, is it?"

"Could be for someone."

"You're weird," Louis blurts out. He's mortified for about two seconds before Zayn bursts out laughing, even louder than he had outside. He sighs pleasantly as his laughter subsides and he leans forward a little so he can pat Louis' arm gently.

"You've got no idea," Zayn murmurs.

Another chill runs down Louis' spine, only this time it feels like he's just been electrocuted or something. His heart starts to race and he watches Zayn's hand carefully as he takes it back, propping it under his head again.

There's a large part of Louis that wants to touch Zayn again, to chase this feeling and see if it can get any better. But he stays silent and still, watching Zayn with hooded eyes.

"Shall we?" Zayn asks as he reaches for the box on the table, glancing back at Louis who nods.

He's not entirely certain that the joint Zayn gave him before wasn't laced with something else, but even that small fear isn't going to keep him from doing it again. The worried voice in the back of his head gets softer and softer as the minutes turn to hours spent on Zayn's couch, until Louis hardly feels anything at all.

*

Louis wakes up in the early afternoon the following day, having stayed in Zayn's flat until the wee hours of the morning. He'd nearly fallen asleep on Zayn's couch before finally agreeing that it was time for him to go back across the hall to his own flat. Louis' cheeks flush a little when he remembers how gentle Zayn was with him as a guide when Louis' own limbs would hardly respond to his own mind.

He thinks about Zayn a lot over the next few hours, even when he's trying not to. He feels a little foolish about wishing he had Zayn's phone number despite living right across the hall from him. There's something less nerve-wracking about sending a simple text than going over and knocking on Zayn's door.

Less probability for immediate humiliation, or something.

Around the time Louis is mulling over his options for dinner, there's a sharp knock at his front door. Just as he approaches it to see who's there, a bit of paper is slipped under the door. Louis bends down to pick it up, opting to read it instead of opening his door to see who sent it to him.

_come to mine in an hour? i've got an errand to run but i'll be back, promise._

_z_

Louis bites his bottom lip and grins down at the note, suddenly feeling a whole lot better than he has all day. Although he discovers over the course of the next hour that time moves even more slowly when he's waiting to see Zayn than it did when he was agonizing over when he might possibly see Zayn next.

He waits a whole sixty-one minutes past the time Zayn slipped the note under his door to take the few steps across the hall and knock on Zayn's door. He'd made a point to have his telly on loud enough for the last half an hour that he wouldn't be tempted to be listening for every little sound across the hallway.

The waiting is entirely worth it when Zayn opens the door and gives Louis a smile. Louis' heart skips a beat and he smiles back, hoping he doesn't look as ridiculous as his racing heart makes him feel.

"C'mon in," Zayn says as he steps aside, beckoning Louis into his flat.

The night goes much like the previous one had, though this time around Louis isn't nearly as nervous as he was before. He relaxes far more easily before they light the first joint, and conversation flows naturally.

He tells Zayn more about his job, the sort of stories he prefers writing over others and what he wishes he could really write about. He tells Zayn about his time at university with Liam and all the ridiculous things they got up to. Most of the messes they found themselves in were ninety percent Louis' fault but since he's the storyteller, he takes a certain number of creative licenses in his retelling.

Zayn offers a comment here and there, and he'll ask specific questions if he has them. For the most part he stays silent, choosing to react to whatever Louis is telling him rather than telling his own stories. For the first few hours, Louis doesn't notice. But after a while he realizes that he's been talking so much that his mouth has gone dry, and he starts to wonder about Zayn.

"What about you?" he asks after he's taken a long drink of water. "What's your story?"

"Not much to tell," Zayn replies. "I used to live with my family, but they're all gone now."

"Gone?" Louis repeats softly. "Like…?"

Zayn chuckles a little and nods. "It's alright. It happened a long time ago."

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright. Harry's practically family, anyway."

"You two seem, umm, close."

A spark of mischief flickers in Zayn's eyes and Louis feels his face go hot all over again.

"Is that jealousy I hear?"

"No."

"You sure?"

"Positive." Louis brings his glass up to his mouth and pointedly looks away.

"Alright," Zayn says in the sort of tone that's really saying _I don't believe you at all_.

Louis clears his throat loudly. "So, what do _you_ do?"

At the end of the night, Zayn walks Louis back to the front door and stays in his doorway as Louis goes across the hall. He's still there when Louis turns around after unlocking his door, and they share smiles.

"Same time tomorrow?" Zayn asks, his smile turning into a smirk.

"Yeah," Louis replies, "sounds good."

When Louis goes into his flat and closes the door behind him, he has to resist the urge to bang his head against the wall. He's hung out with Zayn twice, before that he'd only spoken to him a handful of times, and now he's a hopeless mess.

He's never met someone like Zayn before. Louis wouldn't go so far as to call tonight or the night before _dates_ necessarily, but he's certainly never hung out with a friend and had it feel like it does when he's with Zayn. He feels drawn to him in a way he hasn't felt towards anyone in a long while. He has to constantly stop himself from staring at Zayn's mouth, because then his mind wanders to what it would taste like, what it would feel like to kiss Zayn and have him kiss back. It's seriously distracting.

Louis takes himself to bed and pulls the covers up over his head as he buries his face in his pillow. He curses himself for being so starved for affection that he can't even spend time with his new neighbor without turning everything into some big, dramatic thing. Maybe he just needs to get laid.

But as Louis rolls onto his back and closes his eyes, intending to try and fall asleep, a thought crosses his mind: Zayn hasn't gone out the last two nights and pulled. He's spent them with Louis, talking about absolute nonsense most of the time. That has to mean something, doesn't it?

*

Sunday night is somehow worse than Friday and Saturday put together. Louis' eyes are constantly drawn to Zayn's mouth, and if Louis didn't know better he'd swear he catches Zayn doing the same thing to him. He tries to tell himself that he's just imagining things, or projecting his own desires onto Zayn in the hopes that he'll reciprocate.

Either way, Louis is falling down the rabbit hole and he needs to put a stop to it immediately. Unfortunately, he can't come up with a reasonable way to do it, so he opts for the easy way out.

He kisses Zayn.

Zayn's in the middle of telling him some weird story he saw in the news earlier when Louis literally just leans across the small space between them and presses their lips together. Zayn seems startled at first but he manages to get a hold of himself and kiss back before Louis can lose his nerve.

As soon as Zayn starts kissing back, whatever drew Louis to him in the first place expands tenfold. Louis immediately feels warm all over and wants nothing more than to keep kissing Zayn for as long as he can.

But the moment he puts his hand on Zayn's hip, the spell is broken and Zayn pulls back.

"Louis," he breathes out as he tries to put more space between them. "We shouldn't."

"What?" Louis asks, panting slightly. "What d'you mean?"

"It's just… it's not a good idea."

"Why?" Louis laughs uneasily. "Is it because we're neighbors?"

"No, that's not--" Zayn takes a deep breath, but before he can explain himself they're both startled by a loud pounding coming from the hallway.

The pounding goes on for a few seconds before they hear Louis' name being shouted from the hallway outside Zayn's door and Louis groans.

It's Liam.

"What could he possibly want?" Louis grumbles under his breath as he gets up from the couch and goes to open the front door. This is the last thing in the world he wants to deal with at the moment; all he wants to do is find out why Zayn doesn't want to kiss him, and make it go away so he can kiss Zayn again.

The look on Liam's face when the door opens and Liam realizes that Louis isn't in his own flat immediately tells Louis that this isn't going to be an easy conversation. He goes through a range of emotions in a matter of seconds until he lands on anger, which has no indication of going away any time soon.

"Louis," he says in a careful voice that's teeming with rage, "what are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same question," Louis replies.

"I came here to--" Liam cuts himself off as he steps closer to Louis, continuing in a hiss, "I came here to warn you and what are you doing? Fraternizing with the enemy!"

"The enemy?" Louis scoffs, barely resisting the urge to laugh. "Liam, what are you talking about? Zayn's not the enemy, he's--"

"You don't know that! You don't know anything about him!"

"That's not true!"

"Oh, really?" Liam huffs. "When's his birthday? How old is he?"

"Fuck off, stop acting like you're my dad."

"I'm trying to protect you!"

"From what??"

"Vampires!" Liam shouts. Louis hurries to shush him, but he's almost positive Zayn heard it. How could he have not?

"What is the matter with you?" Louis hisses. "You've fucking lost it, Liam!"

"Have I?? You didn't see what I just saw, Louis!"

"What did you see?" Louis asks, fully expecting Liam to ramble on about something that has absolutely nothing to do with vampires.

"Harry." Liam pauses long enough that Louis opens his mouth to object, but then Liam says, "he was covered in blood."

Whatever Louis was going to say disappears from his brain in the blink of an eye.

"What?" he asks in a voice far quieter than before.

"I was just walking by, and I happened to look down an alley, right? And there was Harry." Liam's breathing goes a bit shaky and Louis stays quiet. "He… I don't know what he was doing, and I didn't see anyone else, but then he turned around and he-- there was just so much blood, Lou. I've never seen anything like it. And his eyes, they just--"

"Are you sure it wasn't his?" Louis asks. "Maybe he'd just injured himself, or--"

"It didn't look like it was his," Liam replies. "It didn't look like it was coming from him. It was just… everywhere."

"Everything alright?"

Louis genuinely jumps when Zayn appears beside him, and he knocks his shoulder into the door. As hard as he tries, Louis can't just put on a smile and pretend like everything is okay. Liam does absolutely nothing to promote anything other than his distaste for Zayn and Harry as he stares Zayn down with a glare that Louis has never seen before.

"Something's happened," Louis says eventually. He can't be sure whether Zayn heard what Liam said, nor does he know how to put any of this delicately. "Harry's… um…"

"I saw him in an alleyway covered in blood," Liam says coldly. "You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

The smile on Zayn's face fades in an instant. "What alley?"

"The one next to Niall's pub," Liam replies. Zayn immediately takes off without another word, leaving Louis and Liam standing in his flat's doorway.

"Niall's pub?" Louis repeats. "You didn't say--"

"He's alright," Liam says quickly. "I went and found him and told him to stay inside, then I came straight here."

"Jesus fucking christ," Louis moans as he puts his head in his hands. "What the hell is going on?"

"Don't just stand there," Liam says as he grabs Louis' arm and starts pulling him away from Zayn's door.

"What?" Louis pulls his arm out of Liam's grip. "What are you talking about?"

"We have to go after them!"

"Are you fucking mental?!"

Liam starts walking towards the stairs while Louis stares at him like he's grown an extra head.

"I'm going with or without you," Liam says, and then he starts running down the stairs.

"For fuck's sake," Louis grumbles to himself as he hurries to pull Zayn's door closed and takes off after Liam.

He catches up just as Liam's pulling the downstairs door open and together they rush out onto the street. Liam immediately takes off towards the pub and Louis struggles to keep up with him. He tries telling Liam to slow down so they don't attract attention, but Liam doesn't listen to a word he says.

Liam doesn't come to a stop until he reaches the alley next to Niall's pub. He stares into the darkness as Louis comes up next to him, gasping for breath.

"They're not here," Liam says just before he takes a few steps forward into the alley. Louis tries to pull him back but he doesn't manage to do so in time.

"What're you doing?" he asks, still breathing hard.

"We need to find them," Liam replies as he starts looking around the alley, presumably for clues.

"They're gone, Liam. Who knows where they might be?"

"Look," Liam says, pointing down at the ground. Louis looks down but doesn't see anything.

"What?"

"That's blood."

Louis cocks his head to the side. "Where? I don't see anything."

"Right there," Liam says earnestly. Louis tries to look harder but still doesn't see it. Liam groans in frustration as he pulls out his phone and shines a light onto the pavement and that's when Louis finally does see it.

There's a trail of blood leading out of the alleyway, practically right under Louis' feet. He quickly shuffles to the side and checks the bottom of his shoes. The last thing he needs is to have some murder victim's feet on the bottom of his fucking trainers.

"Don't tell me you're going to--"

"I have to follow it," Liam says.

"What," Louis says flatly. He can't believe what Liam's suggesting.

"I have to know," Liam says. "Louis, I _have to_."

"Great," Louis replies, sighing heavily. The rational side of himself is screaming that this is a terrible idea, but the journalist side of himself is curious as well so he sort of understands where Liam is coming from and how difficult it's going to be to change his mind. "Can we at least do it at a slower pace this time?"

Liam doesn't take off at a run this time, but he still walks faster than Louis would like. The trail of blood grows smaller and smaller as they follow it, finally disappearing altogether at the edge of a curb. Across the way is an entrance to a small park, and Liam immediately assumes that must be where they've gone.

Louis, far past the point of trying to argue anything, keeps his mouth shut and follows.

He doesn't expect to find anyone in the park, let alone Zayn and Harry. He's hoping that this will finally be the proof (or, rather, the opposite of proof) that Liam needs to give up this whole idea of vampires and everything can go back to normal. He won't even gloat all that much about being right if it means they never have to talk about stupid vampires again.

But all of that goes out the window in a second when Liam and Louis just happen to stumble upon two shadowy figures doing something that can't be mistaken for anything other than what it is: they're drinking the blood of a small animal.

And sadly, even in the dark, Louis instantly recognizes the figures. It's Zayn and Harry.

Louis latches onto Liam's arm with a tight grip, keeping him in place even as Liam tries to move forward.

"What are you doing," Louis hisses sharply. "Don't fucking go over there!"

"But--"

"Your life is not worth a fucking story," Louis snaps, "we need to get out of here _now_." He summons up strength he didn't know he had to physically drag Liam away from the scene before them and back the way they came.

Louis doesn't let go of his death grip on Liam's arm until they're back at his building, having dragged Liam the whole way despite his many protests for Louis to let him go back. The moment he lets go, Louis falls to his knees and nearly vomits all over himself. Every ounce of panic and fear he'd felt in the moment he saw Zayn and Harry comes flooding back and hits him like a truck.

"Louis, are you alright?" Liam asks carefully as he kneels down beside him.

"No, I'm not bloody alright!" Louis shouts. "They're… they were…"

"I know," Liam says softly.

"You were right," Louis says as he looks up at Liam with terror in his eyes. "All this time, you were right."

Liam pats his shoulder and smiles sadly. "I know. You owe me money, y'know."

"Shut up, Liam." Louis laughs in spite of himself, and Liam's smile gets a little brighter.

"If it's any consolation," Liam says, "I didn't actually _want_ to be right."

"Yeah," Louis says softly. "Hey, umm, I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For calling you crazy all those times." Louis shrugs a little. "I didn't want you to be right, either."

"It's okay. I know you didn't really mean it."

"Still." Louis sighs deeply and leans into Liam. "What are we going to do now?"

"I dunno," Liam replies. "But I think maybe we should go inside, first."

"You're probably right," Louis says, letting Liam help him back up onto his feet. "Is that thing about vampires not being able to come inside without an invitation true?"

"Dunno," Liam answers honestly. "But I'm hoping so."

"Me fucking too."

*

Louis can't sleep. Panic is still running through his veins, making it impossible for him to calm down enough to close his eyes. Liam left well over an hour ago, and Louis only let him after he promised he'd get an Uber home instead of walking.

"Can't be too careful," Louis had said as he hugged Liam goodbye.

Since then, Louis has been pacing around his flat. He can't seem to reconcile what he saw tonight with what he's experienced with Zayn over the last few days. He kissed a vampire, for fuck's sake! And some part of him _still_ wants to do it again.

Even his rational side is having trouble understanding how Zayn could be some sort of bloodthirsty monster who had Louis alone for hours and didn't do anything. He could've fed on him a dozen times, but he _didn't_. Was he just saving it for another time? Was he planning on getting Louis even more comfortable with him before he did it?

Louis doesn't know what to think. He can't ask Zayn; he promised Liam he'd never speak to Zayn again. Even if he hadn't, Louis still probably wouldn't go out of his way to speak to him. He'll just keep pushing away that tiny part that wants to kiss Zayn until it goes away for good. It's for the best and he knows that.

There's a knock at his door around midnight and Louis instinctively freezes. He stares at the door like it's betrayed him simply for allowing someone to knock. It happens again and Louis still doesn't move, only this time there's a voice coming through from the other side.

"Louis? Are you in there?" Zayn asks.

Louis doesn't move a muscle and he doesn't say a word.

"I know you are," Zayn says, "I can see the light under the door."

Louis still stays silent and he hears Zayn sigh on the other side of the door.

"Can we talk, please? If you'd just let me explain, I could--"

"Go away!" Louis tries to shout, but the words come out in more of a croak than anything resembling his proper shouting voice.

"Louis, please, I--"

"I said, go away!" Louis shouts again, his voice stronger this time as he moves closer to the door.

"I can explain," Zayn pleads, "I can, if you'd just let me--"

Louis throws open the door and shouts in Zayn's face, "explain?? Explain what, exactly?! How are you going to _explain_ what you and Harry were doing tonight?!"

"I…"

"We saw you!" Louis barrels on. "Liam and I saw you two, in the park, drinking bl--"

It's then that Louis falters, his anger suddenly disappearing as he realizes not only what he's saying but who he's saying it to. He realizes that he made the possibly grave mistake of putting himself in harm's way while outing a vampire in the middle of the hallway.

Louis shakes a little as he tries to go back into his flat, but Zayn stops him from closing the door. He doesn't look angry or upset, but there's a look in his eyes that makes Louis so absurdly nervous that he has no idea what Zayn's capable of in that moment.

"Can we please talk about this somewhere else?"

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Louis answers defiantly despite the fact that his heart's pounding faster than it ever has before and he doesn't know what's going to happen if he keeps saying no.

"Please," Zayn says. He stares Louis right in the eyes and in that moment Louis knows one thing above all else: Zayn's the one with the power here. He could make Louis do absolutely anything and they both know it. Conceivably, it's in Louis' best interest to just submit and hear Zayn out, no matter how much he doesn't want to.

"Okay," Louis replies in a soft voice. He's been beat, he knows this. He lost this battle the moment he opened the door.

Zayn takes a step backwards and gestures for Louis to follow. He reluctantly does, closing his door behind him as Zayn opens the door to his own flat. Louis follows Zayn into it, knowing full well that this might be the last thing he ever does.

The sliver of hope that Zayn isn't all bad is getting smaller by the second, replaced with an overwhelming feeling of dread that Louis has gotten himself into the type of mess that he can't talk his way out of.

As Zayn makes himself comfortable on the couch, Louis stands stock still as he thinks about all the things he wishes he'd done before the end of his life. He wishes he'd been able to talk to his mum one last time, maybe even gone to visit her. He's in the prime of his life; he never thought he wouldn't have more time to do all the things he wanted to do.

"D'you wanna sit?" Zayn asks. His voice acts as a trigger for Louis, and he immediately blurts out his thoughts.

"Please don't kill me," he begs.

"Louis," Zayn sighs.

"I won't tell anyone you're a vampire, I swear."

"I'm not going to kill you, Louis."

Louis blinks. "You're not?"

"No," Zayn shakes his head, "don't you know how hard it is to get rid of a body?"

He chuckles a little, clearly meaning it as a joke but Louis is in no mood to laugh. He stares at Zayn with wide eyes and looks absolutely horrified that he would say such a thing.

"I'm only joking," Zayn says, sighing again as he gestures to the empty seat on the couch.

"I'm sorry, is this funny to you?" Louis says angrily. "Here I am, thinking I'm about to fucking die because you're a _vampire_ and you think it's time to make murdery jokes about getting rid of bodies??"

"I already said I'm not going to kill you, and I meant it," Zayn says patiently. "Would you please just sit down?"

Louis does, but he sits as far away from Zayn as possible while still sitting on the couch.

"Have you ever killed someone?" he asks, his morbid sense of curiosity getting the better of him.

"Not for a long time," Zayn answers.

"But you have killed someone."

"Yes."

"How long is a long time?"

Zayn clicks his tongue, mulling it over for a few seconds before he answers, "hundred years, or so?"

"Oh." Louis swallows hard. "How, uhh, how old are you?"

"Older than your great-granddad, and let's leave it at that," Zayn says with a chuckle. "The bottom line is, I don't kill people. Yes, I'm a vampire, and _yes_ , I need the blood of the living to survive, but I _don't_ kill anyone."

"Then how--"

"I only take what can be spared," Zayn replies. "Humans can lose about thirty percent of their body's blood supply and be alright. And I never feed on the same human."

"I…" It suddenly dawns on Louis that each one of the people he'd seen leaving Zayn's flat in the morning weren't one night stands. They were his victims.

"You've just figured it out, haven't you?" Zayn asks quietly.

"What?" Louis blinks, watching as Zayn ducks his head and goes a bit shy.

"Why I've had so many… visitors."

Louis swallows hard and tries to reconcile all the thoughts swirling around in his head in that moment. On the one hand, he should still be absolutely fucking terrified. No matter what, Zayn's a vampire and he drinks human blood to survive. He's been feeding on god knows how many people around the city, and Louis had no idea until just now.

But on the other hand, there's a strange feeling of jealousy welling up inside Louis at the mention of Zayn's "visitors". He'd made a point not to think about them since he kissed Zayn, and now that he's been reminded of them he likes the idea even less. Despite learning who Zayn really is, Louis can't deny that there's still a part of him that has romantic feelings for Zayn.

There's a question burning in his throat and Louis can't stop himself from asking.

"Is that why you, umm," Louis clears his throat, "stopped? Earlier?"

Zayn sighs heavily and shifts around on the couch. Louis watches as his movements become less fluid and more fidgety, and for once Zayn doesn't seem to have it all together. It's oddly comforting knowing that Louis isn't the only one who's confused about all of this.

"Yes and no," Zayn admits. "I haven't been… _intimate_ with anyone in a long time."

"I don't understand."

"I mean, there's a certain level of intimacy that comes with feeding, but it's usually not…" Zayn struggles with his words and sighs in frustration, "I don't… _want_ it? Or, them? It's just… not the same."

Louis nods a little, but then shakes his head. "I still don't understand."

"I like you," Zayn says quickly, almost like he'd been working up to say it and it all came out in a tumble before he was ready. "And I don't usually like anyone. I _haven't_ liked anyone in, well, a long time."

Louis' heart swells and he tries not to smile too much. It's a little embarrassing, to be honest, how quickly his mind and body responded to three simple words.

"I didn't want to scare you off," Zayn admits. "I had to stop before I got carried away."

"Because you like me?" Louis asks, searching for validation in a twisted way.

"Yeah." Zayn ducks his head and stares down at his hands. Louis does the same while the voice in the back of his head is frantically trying to shout at him to get a grip.

He's acting like a teenager who's just found out their crush likes them back instead of actually dealing with the fact that he's in the company of a vampire. Louis wants to trust Zayn, to believe that he won't try to hurt him, but he can't possibly know it for sure. The bottom line is that Zayn is still an otherworldly being that Louis knows next to nothing about, and there's a level of danger that comes along with that which needs to be ever present in Louis' mind instead of taking a backseat to his feelings.

"I like you, too." Louis takes a deep breath. "But…"

"I'm a vampire," Zayn says.

"Yeah." Louis' shoulders droop. "I shouldn't even be here. I told Liam I'd avoid you."

"But here you are," Zayn says, his mouth quirking up in a smile that disappears as quickly as it came.

"Yeah."

"Do you want to leave?"

"Honestly?" Zayn nods.

"I won't stop you," he says. "If you want to go, you can go."

"I don't want to go," Louis replies. It's as honest as he can be. Even with the knowledge of what Zayn really is, he still wants to be right where he is.

"Are you sure?"

Louis fidgets a little. He sort of wishes Zayn would stop asking him already because he said he didn't want to go. But he also understands that this whole situation is so far removed from anything Louis has ever known before, and if he were in Zayn's shoes he'd want to be absolutely sure as well.

"How about this," Zayn offers, "I'll let you ask me some questions and I'll answer as honestly as I can. If, by the end of it, you never want to see me again, I won't hold it against you."

"Okay," Louis says after a little while. "But what if I do want to see you again?"

Zayn chuckles. "Well, I'm sort of hoping for that."

*

Louis has every intention of telling Liam that he has nothing to worry about when it comes to Zayn and Harry. He spends most of Sunday trying to think of a way to broach the topic that won't end in a shouting match between them, and it's not easy. He has to try his best to remain calm because with all the work Liam's put into his research and his hard feelings about vampires in general, it's very likely that Liam is going to be upset.

Still, Louis knows this is for the best. He can't risk not telling Liam and then have him expose Zayn and Harry for what they are. None of them can possibly fathom what the consequences of that action would be.

The problem is that Louis doesn't get a chance to talk to Liam on Monday. Or Tuesday, or Wednesday, or even _Thursday_ , for that matter. He's stuck going on assignment after assignment and the few hours each day he's actually at the office, Liam is nowhere to be found. He can't help but start to think that Liam's actively avoiding him, like he already knows that Louis talked to Zayn.

He even tries texting him outside of work, but Liam always begs off when Louis asks to see him during the evening. Louis doesn't know what's keeping Liam so busy, but it can't possibly be good.

On Friday afternoon, Louis finally catches a break. He comes into the office and finds Liam at his desk, typing away at his computer. Never being one to leave Liam alone when he's in the middle of something, Louis marches right over.

"Liam, I have something to--"

"Oh, Louis!" Liam looks up at him and tilts his monitor towards Louis, pointing to his screen as he asks, "which do you think I should get?"

"What?" Louis asks as he glances at the monitor briefly. He does a double-take when he realizes that not only is Liam on eBay during work hours, but he's looking up _holy water_.

"D'you think American holy water will work on British vampires?" Liam asks, entirely serious. "Or should I try and see if anyone is selling it direct from the Vatican?"

"I--"

"Or, there's a church a few blocks over. I think it's Catholic, but I'm not sure. D'you think they'd bless some water for me anyway? Does it have to be a Catholic priest?"

"Liam, what are you--"

"Oh!" Liam grabs his mouse and clicks over to another tab in his browser, grinning proudly as he shows Louis another page. "Look what I found. Cool, right?"

Louis goes pale as he sees a set of wooden stakes being sold for fifteen pounds. He looks at Liam in utter disbelief.

"Liam, you can't be serious."

"What?" Liam looks at the screen. "D'you think it's too much? I don't think we'll need all of them, but you can't be too careful, right?"

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Louis mutters to himself, "but don't you have actual _work_ to do?"

"What're you talking about?" Liam asks as Louis goes over to his desk and sinks heavily into his chair. "We have to protect ourselves, Lou."

"But… holy water? Wooden stakes? Jesus, Liam."

"We can't be too careful! We don't know what we're dealing with!"

"Exactly!" Louis sighs. "What if you're looking at this all wrong?"

"I don't…" Liam stares at Louis suspiciously. "What are you saying?"

"I…" Louis shakes his head. "I don't know. It just seems a bit… violent, is all. Maybe we should think of something else, first?"

"Like what?"

"I dunno, something! Something that's not attacking _vampires_ ," Louis hisses.

Liam tilts his head a little and raises his eyebrows. "Maybe you're right."

"Thank you."

"We can try and come up with a plan tonight at the pub."

"No, that's not--" Louis groans as Liam gets up and walks away before Louis can set him straight. Louis turns around and faces his desk before promptly collapsing forward and groaning into it with his face pressed down against the wood.

This is even harder than he thought it would be. He can't even ask Zayn for help because one, he doesn't have a phone and two, even if he did, the sun hasn't gone down yet. Louis is on his own for this one and it's the absolute _worst_.

In the hours left in the workday, Louis tries making a list of all the reasons why Liam should trust him when he says that Zayn and Harry aren't a threat. The hardest part is trying to come up with this list without revealing that he's spoken to Zayn already, because that isn't really something that Louis wants to flat out admit to Liam. He knows it's going to come out eventually, but he'd rather try and soften the blow beforehand.

After two straight hours of brainstorming, Louis' list looks like this:

_we don't know that they've killed anyone_

_we didn't actually see them kill the animal in the park_

_and if they feed on animals isn't that okay? maybe they're like the vegetarian vampires in twilight_

Louis reads over his list again and groans to himself. His best argument is from fucking Twilight. This is a total disaster.

"Ready to go?" Liam asks, startling Louis a little and making him scramble to cover his list.

"Yep," Louis answers, clearing his throat as he gets up from his desk.

"What's that?" Liam looks down at the paper clutched in Louis' hand and Louis chuckles awkwardly as he crumbles it up in his hand and tosses it into the bin under his desk.

"Nothing."

"Are you alright?" Liam asks as they make their way downstairs in the lift. "You're acting weirder than usual."

"I'm fine," Louis replies. "Just been a long week, is all."

"That's for sure," Liam says. He sighs a little and Louis stares down at his feet as he tries to come up with _any_ other reasoning besides his ridiculous Twilight argument.

(There's a secondary conversation in his head where he's cursing his sisters for ever being obsessed with the franchise and therefore forcing him to watch all of the movies several times over. This is absolutely their fault that all he can think about is stupid sparkling vampires.)

"Are you sure you're alright?" Liam asks again when they've made it to the pub.

"I…" Louis starts to repeat his earlier sentiment, but he stops. He can't just keep saying "I'm fine" or they'll never get anywhere. "I don't know."

"What d'you mean?"

"You were looking up _stakes_ , Liam. Stakes and holy water."

"For protection."

"But what if we don't need protection? What if Zayn and Harry aren't going to hurt us, or anyone, for that matter?"

"We don't know that," Liam says. "We _can't_ know that."

"But what if we can? What if they--"

"Hang on a minute, what are you saying?" Liam stares at Louis for a long moment and Louis shrinks under his gaze. "Are you on their side…?"

"No, I'm just--"

"The usual, lads?" Niall asks, interrupting at the _worst_ possible time.

"You are," Liam says, not even noticing that Niall's joined in on the conversation. "You… you talked to him, didn't you?"

"Liam, I--"

"You promised you wouldn't. You swore!"

"It's not like that, Liam, it's--"

"I can't believe you'd do this," Liam says, ignoring Louis' protests.

"I'll, uhh… I'll come back," Niall says quietly as he backs away.

"You're making it sound like I've done something to you," Louis says, "but I haven't!"

"You haven't?? You promised me!" Liam says, his voice getting louder. "You're putting yourself in danger!"

"But I'm not!"

"You're the one who pulled me back last time, and now you're just… just…"

"It's not what you think, Liam, I--"

Louis reaches out towards him but Liam instantly recoils. Louis' hand drops from mid-air and his heart breaks. Liam's never shied away from his touch so violently before and _god_ it hurts.

"Liam," Louis says, his voice breaking. "Liam, you--"

"You said we were in this together," Liam says, his voice trembling with anger. "You told me we were a team."

"We _are_ , Liam. You just don't understand, I--"

"I understand perfectly," Liam interrupts. "It's you who doesn't understand. I don't know what sort of spell he's got you under, but it ends _tonight_."

With that, Liam takes off for the door, leaving Louis alone at the bar. He tries calling after Liam but it's no use. Louis turns around and puts his head in his hands, breathing in and out as steadily as he can to try and calm himself down.

"You alright, Lou?" Niall asks carefully.

"Do I fucking look alright?" he snaps.

"Just a question," Niall replies, putting his hands up defensively.

"No, I'm…" Louis huffs. "I'm sorry. This is just… it's all _so_ fucked up."

"I, umm…" Niall leans in. "I take it you know about Harry and Zayn, then."

Louis stares at him. "Y-You… you know?"

"Harry's not exactly the best at keeping secrets," Niall replies. "Bit of an idiot, really."

Louis laughs a little, out of surprise more than anything else.

"What's Liam gonna do, d'you think?"

"I don't know," Louis answers honestly. "He… he might…"

Louis goes a bit pale as his mind works faster than his mouth can keep up with. In a flash he sees half a dozen different ways this night could go south and every single one of them ends up with Liam getting hurt.

"I have to stop him," Louis says as he slides off of his barstool. He hardly hears Niall's goodbye as he narrowly avoids tripping over his own two feet in his rush to get to the door.

Once he's outside the pub, Louis has to make a decision of where to go. He glances to his left, wondering if Liam would go back to his flat first. Did he already order some ridiculous weapons and is going back to a stockpile? Then Louis glances to the right, towards the way to his own flat, and wonders if Liam would just go straight to confront Zayn.

It takes all of two seconds for Louis to decide to go home. In a fit of rage, Liam absolutely would be stupid enough to go after Zayn.

Louis pushes himself to run as fast as he can, his mind still imagining too many horrible outcomes to let himself slow down even a little. He has to get to Liam before he does something drastic, he _has to_.

He turns the corner onto his street and suddenly comes to a screeching halt. Liam's standing in the middle of the road with his arm outstretched, and Zayn's standing a few feet in front of him. The blood is rushing so loudly in Louis' ears that he can't even make out what they're saying, but he can't imagine it to be good.

As soon as he takes a step towards them, a loud horn sounds out of nowhere and Louis chokes on a shout. Liam's in the middle of the fucking road and there's a car headed straight towards him.

"Liam!" he shouts in vain, even though there's nothing he can physically do; he's too far away to help him.

Liam's head swivels between Louis and the car, and at the last possible second he's yanked out of the street entirely by none other than Zayn himself. They both stumble back onto the sidewalk, nearly falling over completely as the car speeds by and the driver yells something at all of them as it goes by.

After giving the driver the finger and shouting some choice words back at him, Louis rushes over and practically tackles Liam onto the sidewalk.

"Liam!" he breathes out harshly, clinging to his best mate with all the strength he has left. "Don't ever fucking do that again!"

"He… he saved me." Louis pulls back slightly to see Liam staring up at Zayn, who's standing awkwardly by with his hands shoved deep into his pockets.

"I wasn't about to let you die," he says.

"But…"

"Liam," Louis says, closing his eyes for a moment and taking a deep breath, "I swear to god, if you say _but you're a vampire_ right now I'm going to push you back out into traffic myself."

"Well, he is!"

"I'm not all bad, y'know," Zayn offers quietly. "Just because I'm a vampire doesn't mean I like killing people or watching them die."

"See?" Louis says, knocking his elbow into Liam's side before he gets to his feet and pulls Liam up along with him. "I told you."

Liam's mouth twists and his eyes narrow as he tries to reconcile what just happened with everything he thought he knew about vampires. He looks back and forth between Zayn and Louis a few times before he makes his next argument.

"How do I know you weren't just trying to make yourself look like a good guy, huh?"

Zayn laughs softly while Louis grumbles under his breath. For once in his life, he wishes Liam would just accept something and move on rather than having to question it to death.

"I mean…" Zayn shrugs his shoulders a little. Liam turns to Louis as if to say _see he's not denying it_ , but Louis isn't going to let this go without a fight.

"No, come on now. What about all the research you've done over the last few weeks, hmm? Have you come across anything about anyone dying under mysterious circumstances?"

Liam goes to open his mouth and Louis immediately adds on one last parameter.

"In our city," he says, "within the last month."

Liam deflates a little and scowls as he crosses his arms. "No," he mumbles.

"See? You're just projecting what you _think_ Zayn should be like based off of what you've seen in films and shit, but you don't even know him!"

"And you do?"

"I know him better than you do because at least I've given him a chance!" Louis shouts.

"Fine!" Liam shouts back. They both stare at each other angrily for a few seconds and Liam throws his hands in the air. "Fine," he repeats, "maybe you're right."

"Thank you," Louis replies, still feeling a bit angry so it comes across more snarky than anything else.

"I just… I didn't know what to expect, alright?" Liam looks at Zayn and sighs. "I've never met a vampire, y'know."

"No, I get it." Zayn shrugs again as Louis turns to look at him too. "I've met my fair share of vampires and most of them are terrible."

Louis laughs a little and the tension he felt so strongly between the three of them up to that moment eases a bit more with each passing second.

"But you're not," Louis says.

"No," Zayn says as he shakes his head, "I'm not. Scout's honor."

"You were never a Scout," Louis says as he rolls his eyes.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Zayn replies with a grin.

Liam clears his throat loudly and Louis feels his face go hot. For a moment there, he'd forgotten that he and Zayn weren't alone.

"So… you're not going to hurt us?" Liam asks point-blank. Zayn shakes his head. "And Harry isn't going to hurt us, either? Or Niall?"

"Nah," Zayn replies. "I think he likes Niall too much to hurt him."

"I think Niall likes him too," Louis stage-whispers to Liam.

"Fuck," Liam mutters under his breath. "I need new friends who won't fall for vampires."

Louis elbows Liam in the gut and Liam smacks his arm away.

"I still don't like this," Liam says, "and I'm definitely not 100% okay with it…" he looks between Zayn and Louis and then sighs heavily, "...but I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt."

"Thank you?" Zayn says as Louis buries his face in his hands.

"Just… if you hurt him," Liam says as he points his finger directly at Zayn's face. "I know where to buy wooden stakes and holy water, got it?"

"Liam, for fuck's sake--"

"Got it," Zayn replies as placatingly as possible without sounding patronizing.

"Good." Liam sighs again and pats Louis' shoulder. "I'm going back to the pub."

He doesn't wait for Louis to say anything, nor does he seem to expect him to follow. Louis waves at Liam's back, waiting until he's turned the corner before he looks at Zayn.

"You saved my best mate's life."

"I did."

"Was he threatening to kill you before I got here?"

Zayn shrugs a little. "Maybe."

"Did you believe he would?"

"A bit, yeah." They both laugh. "He's scary when he's angry, y'know."

"That's Liam." Louis takes a small step closer to Zayn. "Thanks for saving his life."

"Any time," Zayn replies as he takes a step towards Louis.

"D'you wanna come in for a cuppa?" Louis asks as he looks down at their hands. Zayn carefully takes one of Louis' hands in his own and hums under his breath.

"Are you inviting me in?" He interlaces their fingers and Louis squeezes his hand.

"It's only fair, innit? You've had me over twice now."

"Three times," Zayn corrects. Louis rolls his eyes.

"Alright, I really owe you." Zayn laughs and pulls Louis closer. "I haven't got any weed, though, sorry."

"I bet we can figure something out," Zayn says as he finally closes the gap between them and kisses Louis softly.

As he pulls away and takes a step backwards towards the front door, gently tugging Louis along, a thought that's never occurred to him before suddenly pops into Louis' head and it makes him laugh aloud.

"What?"

"Can vampires even _get_ high?"

**Author's Note:**

> [my tumblr](http://astorytotellyourfriends.tumblr.com)


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